CAMP PENDLETON  Before an audience of Marines who likely fought in the post-9/11 wars, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel reiterated Tuesday that the U.S. combat mission is over in Iraq — even as the Pentagon announced that it has dispatched 130 more military advisers to northern Iraq, the scene of fierce fighting and a humanitarian crisis.

This team’s marching orders are “to give a more in-depth assessment of where we can continue to help the Iraqis,” but it is not an extension of the U.S. role there, Hagel told a 200-Marine audience. Part of the advisers’ work will be to help strategize the evacuation of tens of thousands of Christians and Yazidis from Mount Sinjar, where they have been stranded because of persecution by the Islamic State army of Muslim militants.

The new assessment team arrived in the city of Erbil on Tuesday and will work to send back analysis “very shortly,” Hagel said. He described it as an inter-service group that includes some Marines.

The Islamic State has routed much of the Iraqi army in the past year and captured major cities, including Fallujah and Ramadi, that were hard-won by U.S. Marines in 2004 and 2006. Last week, the militants seized Christian and Yazidi towns in northern Iraq and then threatened Erbil, the Kurdish capital.

The goal of this group, which includes foreign fighters along with Sunni soldiers who have defected from the Iraqi army, is to establish a fundamentalist Islamic government in Iraq and elsewhere.

Last Thursday, President Barack Obama authorized U.S. air strikes against the militants in northern Iraq to protect an American consulate and to prevent widespread killing of non-Muslim families that had fled to Mount Sinjar. He has also sent aircraft to drop water and food supplies for those hiding on the mountain, and this week he authorized a special Central Intelligence Agency project to arm Kurdish forces with light arms and ammunition.

On Tuesday at Camp Pendleton, a gunnery sergeant asked Hagel why the United States won’t put boots on the ground again in Iraq. The defense secretary responded bluntly, “We’re not going to do that.”

He added: “The combat mission is over. But also if you recall, the Iraqi people made some decision of their own on sovereignty.”

The latter was likely a reference to Iraq’s refusal to sign a status-of-forces agreement to allow U.S. troops to remain there after 2011.

Hagel took the opportunity to blast Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki for failing to build a unified government. Other critics have gone further, accusing Al-Maliki of actively discriminating against Sunnis and Kurds while favoring his own Shiite camp.

“The Iraqi government really squandered an opportunity the last five years to build an inclusion government,” Hagel said while answering questions from the news media.

“Leadership matters. And I think what we saw in western Iraq a couple months ago — essentially the disintegration of two Iraqi divisions — that was clearly the result of a lack of will to fight, lack of confidence in their leaders. … Now it’s up to the Iraqi people to put their country back together.”

Al-Maliki appeared to be negotiating a transition of power Tuesday, with much of his political party, the Iraqi military and his allies in Iran distancing themselves from him. Another Shiite lawmaker has been nominated to replace him.

The Tuesday visit was Hagel’s first as secretary of defense to Camp Pendleton — home to Marines who provided vital fighting muscle, and took significant losses, during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Hagel spent several hours at the North County base, arriving and leaving on an MV-22 Osprey. He visited two career-transition classes and held a question-and-answer session inside a helicopter hangar.

Hagel said he wanted to visit the troops to thank them and their families for their service and sacrifice.

“I want to also make sure that you pass on to your families how much we appreciate their sacrifices for this country and supporting you and allowing you to do the kind of job for this country that you’ve been doing better than anyone,” the defense secretary said.

He painted a fairly positive picture of the situation in Afghanistan, where U.S. troops will continue to pull out until only a tiny caretaker force remains by the end of 2016.

“We’re not without challenges and threats … but I think it’s important to note the tremendous progress made as they build their own institutions and capacities to defend themselves,” Hagel told the Marines. “And you’ve been a big part of helping get there.”

Defense budget cuts and the end of two wars have prompted the Pentagon to slash troop levels in the Marine Corps and Army.

The Marine Corps, which swelled to 202,000 during the 2000s, will shrink to 182,000 by next year and could drop to 175,000 in following years depending on the budget situation.

U.S. military leaders have revamped classes offered to troops leaving the service, making the courses mandatory.

Some new veterans have reported difficulty translating their military service into civilian terms. High unemployment rates for younger vets have backed up those claims. A meager job market has not helped the picture.

At a class Tuesday at Camp Pendleton, about 60 Marines listened to a human resources consultant discuss the ins and outs of LinkedIn, Careerbuilder.com and other job-finding tools.

Hagel popped in to address the class.

He offered a short pep talk. Referring to his time as a civilian, the former U.S. senator from Nebraska said he knows what it’s like to hire people for business.

“Never, never underestimate what you have to offer, based on your experience,” Hagel said. “You all have a lot of common sense. You live in a practical world. You’ve come from a very difficult world … one with very high standards. And produces a discipline that very, very few institutions will ever match.”

Before arriving at Camp Pendleton, Hagel had visited India and then joined Secretary of State John Kerry for meetings in Australia. He thanked the Corps for providing a professional and positive influence on the Australian communities where its troops have been stationed.